Overview
- Madison Metropolitan School District said roughly 70% of Madison Teachers Inc. members planned to walk out for May Day’s immigration-rights events, prompting a districtwide closure and the suspension of after-school programs.
- Officials said students still meet state instructional-time rules and the day will count as a single-day emergency closure with no makeup required for families.
- Voces de la Frontera organized marches in Madison and Milwaukee that call for ending a program that lets local police act as immigration agents and for removing ICE from courts, schools, and communities.
- Responses varied nationwide, with at least nine North Carolina districts canceling classes while Chicago kept schools open and arranged buses so some students could attend pro-labor rallies.
- Madison last shut down for staff protest action in 2011 during demonstrations over Act 10, providing a local precedent for closing when staffing falls too low to run schools safely.